The Haunting Reminders of Depravity of Communist Crimes

It was May, 1945. The Second World War was over, and the real agony of civilian refugees and defeated soldiers (independence and freedom from Kingdom of Yugoslavia fighters in particular) from the territories of former Yugoslavia had just begun. The agony of the defeated Croatian soldiers and civilians is known as the Way of the Cross. Instead of the humanitarian protection they should have received, Yugoslav partisans, communists, gave them death sentences. Endless columns of refugees from Yugoslavia walked towards the West, seeking refuge and instead were sent back and sent on the road of no return – Huda Pit was one of the places where that road finished for thousands innocent victims.
Post WWII Communist Yugoslavia was literally littered with mass graves, particularly Croatia and Slovenia – the remains cluttered the underground in deafening silence for decades as Yugoslavia’s communists kept a tight lid over the mass graves and their depraved crime sprees, filled with hatred for and revenge against anyone disagreeing with communism or actively seeking freedom and independence. Up till now some 624 mass graves of communist crimes have been discovered in Slovenia with multitudes of thousands of tortured and slaughtered Croats, not only POW soldiers, but also old men and women, women with children.

It was in 2009 when the authorities first opened the Huda Jama (Pit) mine, some 80 Km northeast of Ljubljana, one of several hundreds of mass graves dotted around the former Yugoslavia filled with remains of victims of communist crimes, mass slaughter. ‘It is one of the most shocking things you could see in your life,’ said at the time Barbara Brezigar, Slovenian State Prosecutor, reacting to the terrible sight she had seen of the victims’ remains.

Inside Huda Pit mass grave (photo taken 2009)

Huda Pit is believed to be one of the largest multiple mass graves of members of defeated armies and civilians killed towards the end of WWII by Communist authorities and intelligence services. There are sealed-off disused mine shafts within the old mine forming mass graves experts believe could contain over several thousands of victims, Slovenians and mainly Croats, women and children among them.

Many gathered at Huda Piton 3 October 2016 to witnessthe transferal from mass grave of remainsof victims of communist crimes of former YugoslaviaPhoto: dnevno.hr

Transferal of the remains of the first 800 victims unearthed to a memorial centre at Dobrava, west of Ljubljana, had begun on Monday 3 October 2016. Bishop Stanislav Lipovsek of Celje, Slovenia, led the funeral and carrying-of-remains ceremony in the presence of the Slovenian president Barut Pahor and hundreds of people many of whom are still wondering whether the remains of their parent, grandparent, brother, sister … were among those carried out from this pit on Monday – all they know is that communists slaughtered and buried them, somewhere in the area. The transfer of the victims’ remains is likely to be completed by 27 October when Slovenian President Borut Pahor is due to attend a commemoration at the Maribor cemetery. The burial of remains at Dobrava (Tezno) will enable later burials into individual family graves once identification of the victims is completed; there will also be a common graveyard prepared for some of these victims whose identity may not be confirmed.
Communist crimes’ apologists will go on telling the world that all these people deserved to die because they were Nazi-collaborators. They will not tell the world that these people were executed without a trial, without a shred of evidence against them when it comes to Nazi-collaboration. The slaughter was a part of a political agenda where communism had to clear the way – without significant opposition to it – for its rule and regime in Yugoslavia. Communists acted as judge, jury and executioner to those with differing political views.

President Borut Pahor has stated on Monday that the reconciliation of the formerly opposed sides and coming to terms with the past is a continuous process, and that the act of reburial could be a historic turning point. “Reconciliation is possible only once we are ready to forgive and to admit the truth even if it is painful, hard and incriminating,” Pahor said during the ceremony, attended by victims’ relatives.

President Pahor gave an exclusive statement to the “Bujica” TV program team at the Huda Pit site on Monday:
“This was necessary to do in order to deal with the past and for a better understanding of the future. I know that there are those who will say that it is more important to solve the current problems and that the history cannot assist with this, but I do not think like that! The fact that we have today begun solving one of the most dramatic events in our history from the middle of the last century, can also help the future of our nations. The job is not done yet. I wish that in the near future we will able to say that all our dead are buried in peace, and that our children and grandchildren will only then be able to devote themselves to other problems. At the last informal meeting I had with your President, Mrs. Grabar – Kitarovic, we talked about Huda Pit and all the other places where the victims require a dignified burial and reverence paid, piety shown for the deceased who were killed without trial, after the Second World War in Slovenia. We agreed that we need as two of the Presidents, act in such a way that will send a message of reconciliation regardless of the past the future peace. This will be done during coming months.”

There is reported evidence that some of the victims were buried alive to die in agony. Nothing, nothing justifies or lessens these crimes and it is an appalling state of affairs to have seen that no Croatian government or presidential representatives took the effort of being at Huda Pit on Monday. No excuses possible there as far as I am concerned, not even the fact that the new government has not been formed yet. Surely, the fact that to date there are over 900 locations of either mass or individual graves of victims of communist crimes in Croatia (let alone Slovenia and the other states of former Yugoslavia) where Croatian victims are buried is motive and justification enough to dedicate a whole government department to deal with this terrible injustice towards innocent people in Croatia – not just an office. This is the part of Croatian history that has not yet been dealt with properly and it must. Slovenian president Pahor just stated at Huda Pit on Monday that which has often been said in my articles and that is a good sign for justice to come. Ina Vukic, Prof. (Zgb); B.A., M.A.Ps. (Syd)

Comments

The novel I am currently working on is set in WWII Croatia and it will not dodge the issue of these crimes. Thank-you, Ina, for your continual work countering the lies so many (want to) believe about Croatia. God bless you!

Aw, thank you Mishka – much appreciate your words. Battle for justice for victims of communist crimes seems to never “want” to start properly, keeps stalling and stalling – hence, the more people that fight for it the better however brokenhearted one may feel from time to time because of those who want the crimes kept hidden even if through perverse justification if not under the ground. Look forward to your new novel – you are an amazing author and writer.

This sent chills through me Ina.. and I still always find it hard how those who have families themselves serving within war can carry out such deeds on Mass.. It is something I will never ever really understand about our Human Nature and how cruel we are to one another..
We may think this is in the past, and yet we both know in places around our world such atrocities are still being carried out..
My Heart Bleeds ..
Love to you for all you do in bringing awareness to all of the suffering we should never forget how in such a short while so many perished ..

Yes Sue, much love to you too as you bring love and peace and where it can’t be brought you send it in the hope it will land in safe hands…often, when I watch the new I “weep” – so much unnecessary brutality about. We must keep showing it for what it is so that it may die one day – hopefully…hugs my friend

According to people like Stipe Mesic, these crimes didn’t exist and were random and those that committed those crimes are celebrated as heroes. What I hope is that one day the crimes of the Yugoslav/Serbs against the Croatian people during and after WWII will finally be exposed…I also hope that the crimes against the Croatian people from 1918-1941 will also be exposed and made public for all to see because all these crimes have been swept under the rug.

“It was May, 1945. The Second World War was over, and the real agony of civilian refugees and defeated soldiers (independence and freedom from Kingdom of Yugoslavia fighters in particular) from the territories of former Yugoslavia had just begun.”
While I think this article accurately portrays the circumstances surrounding the deaths of these mainly Croatian men, women and children as well as Croatian prisoners of war who were captured and killed by the communist partisans after the end of hostilities in May of 1945, I take umbrage at any attempt to distinguish between the victims. I am assuming that you were referring to Domobrani (Home Guard) soldiers as those who had fought for “independence and freedom from Kingdom of Yugoslavia …’in particular’.” What is your motivation for stressing the particularness of Domobrani? Your implication seems to be that of all the victims of Huda Jama, in particular the agony of this subset of victims is of the most concern. I think it wrong to take such a stand. A victim is a victim. None of them deserved to die…period. By so doing one is supporting the communist lies of the last 70 years. Be they Ustase or Domobrani or any other POW doesn’t and shouldn’t matter. Just as it shouldn’t matter if the non-combatant victims are either men or women or children. They were all murdered because they were a threat to the communists who had seized power and wanted to hold on to it. They were murdered because they were perceived as Croatian nationalists who supported independence for Croatia from any form of a Yugoslavia and as such they were a threat to the new communist Yugoslavia.
As I have said before it seems to me that now that the truth of what happened after WWII is slowly coming to light, it is in the best interests of a certain subset of our Croatian population to discredit, minimize, deflect, divide, mislead in an attempt to shape public opinion and raise doubt in the minds of Croatians as to the facts of that time period in our history. What is truly sobering is the realization that even the so called centre-right HDZ party who have held the reins of power for the better part of the last 25 years have done nothing to contribute to the pursuit of the truth, nor seem to have any intention to do so in the near future. So much for their typical pre-election promises and flag waving – hard to dispute SDP=HDZ. No govt. representative was at Huda Jama for the removal of the remains of almost 800 victims….no further words are necessary.

Well Velebit, thank you on your comment and your take of my meaning but certainly Domobrani (Home Guards) were not the only ones I thought of as soldiers of defeated armies who fought for freedom – the idea is to portray them all (except communist partisans) as fighters for freedom and the world needs to be clear on that Croats did not want to be a part of any Yugoslavia be it Serb-monarchy led or communist led. The latter of course arose after WWII and all their victims are equal. In essence NDH Independent State Of Croatia arose in 1941 in efforts, simply said, to get away from the Yugoslav Kingdom led by Serb monarchy.

My regrets if I mistook your meaning, it is just that so often when discussing the subject of post WWII massacres by the communist partisans, inevitably there are those who “rank” or drawn distinctions between the dead in an attempt to justify the unjustifiable killing of so many. The communist mythology surrounding the events of that period in our history is still endorsed, disappointingly, by, one assumes, a preponderance of our academics, politicians, legislators etc. as is evidenced by the lack of scholarly, educated opposition to that version of history. It is well past time for an objective, evidentiary-based investigation into the events of WWII, for the taboos to be lifted and for more open dialogue and discussion. Do I see that happening with this new HDZ led govt? No, they as their predecessors before them, seem content to ignore the issue and by their inaction are, de facto, propagating the communist version of history. Perhaps even more culpable is our President Grabar-Kitarovic who firmly, publicly, stands on the side of the “antifascist” struggle (read Partisan/Communist) against those who actively or passively supported NDH. Another President of Croatia, in a long line of presidents who has failed to represent ALL Croatians, and in fact chooses to support one side vs the other- the killers vs. the victims. Only in Croatia! This would not even be imaginable in any other modern democratic country.

Agree with you Velebit, one needs to be alert regarding representation of the post-WWII murders committed by communists as they seem to maintain their excusable and terrible trend of justifying the slaughters and murders. Croatia’s leaders do continue to disappoint in this and that is sad, it would seem they’re protecting that which cannot be protected. This all is heartbreaking, for many, as lack of progress in prosecuting or truly condemning communist crimes as opposed to lip service on few occasions continues.

The reality is the Croatian communist perpetrators (zlocinci) and their offspring are in both major parties, the media and the secret service. The brain washing is still on going.

Zeljko Glasnovic is truly a unique individual which I consider to be family. The only person not allowing these communists to sleep easy.

My experience is the victims families have mostly left Croatia and are in the Diaspora. They are now old themselves if alive at all, and their offspring are slowly assimilating into their migrated country. Even Diaspora that went back to fight in the 90’s are back in their migrated country.

Just look at the latest election results from a geographical view point and you will be able to correlate migration patterns. Little has changed since 1945 in terms of regions where Croatians are immigrating from even today. Its a broad statement but not far from the truth.

Well Splithead, true many had left but also many stayed and suffered in silence as didn’t want to be communists…didn’t make much headway career wise etc and yes the communist descendants are not about to point a finger at their fathers, mothers, grandparents … but never mind, they will heel to the truth sooner or later all people need to do is keep reminding them of these atrocities commuted in the name of the Party and Tito…

While the children of the former communist party leaders , in Croatia , are still in power our future remains sketchy .
Their ideology is based on lies cruelty and murder .
Until they are purged from their positions of comfort uncertainty continues .

I am learning more about the rewriting of history, of the massive propaganda that alters world view and understanding – and that would seem to embrace the communist agenda through the socialist softened viewpoint… pictures like this are so incredibly important because they decry the false reality that attempts to reframe history globally. Thank you!

Croatia is such a beautiful country with its splendid architecture and rich culture, I wish the victims fair redress over the cruel past and the country a vibrant and fine future of peace and prosperity.

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Welcome!

Welcome to my blog. Here I will bring to you a variety of topics covering the documented truth about that terrible war that Croatia had to endure during the period between 1991 and 1995 and about Croatian political history that shaped a wonderful nation of people.

Croatian people wanted independence for centuries, just as they had it until the twelfth century but fate was not on their side – others wanted their beautiful land. In late 1980′s the will to break free from Yugoslavia which suffocated freedom and self determination through harsh communist party rule finally bore the desired fruit.

In June 1991 Croatia declared its independence; soon after the aggressive war against Croatia broke out. The struggle of the Croatian people for self-determination was a just one. But I fear genuine justice has not been served as there have been, and there still exist, international covert and overt moves to equate victims with aggressors continue in attempts to change history. Truth often becomes obscured and lost and that is why I have chosen to write this blog, to concentrate on actual events and issues about Croatia – wishing it a bright and freedom-loving future.

It certainly was not easy to come out of the war that was fought on two fronts:

1. On the military front the world’s public has seen the indiscriminate bombardment of Croatian cities, towns and villages from land, sea and air; the destruction of civilian targets including homes, schools, hospitals, churches, factories and cultural monuments; the blockading and destruction of roads, bridges and ports; the blockading of power, water, food and medical supplies. What hasn’t been shown on our television sets is the forced clearing and evacuation of towns and villages, followed by looting, torture, rape and murder carried out by the Serbian forces, who were initially backed by the federal Yugoslav army that was largely constituted by Serb nationals; the transportation of multiple hundreds of innocent Croatian civilians from Croatia into concentration camps Serbia (Begejci, Stajicevo, Sremska Mitrovica... from October 1991, and later (1992) transferred into Serb-held camps in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Omarska, Keratern, Manjaca, Trnopolje).

2. The second front was the war of political propaganda centred on: misinformation about the rights of minorities in Croatia; portrayal of the Croatian people as Ustasha or Fascists; the representation of the Croatian defence forces as illegal paramilitary units; the representation of the Croatian and Slovenian republics as unreasonable secessionists who are unwilling to negotiate; a regurgitation of distorted facts about World War II.

Indeed Croatia had an absolute right to defend itself and this is often forgotten if not often denied it.

Ina Vukic

Ina has been a tireless volunteer on humanitarian aid and fundraising for victims of war in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, especially war orphans. From1991 to beginning of 1994 she contributed in lobbying for international recognition of Croatian independence and Croatia’s rights in defending its territory and people from military aggression by Serbian forces. For this dedicated voluntary work Ina was awarded two Medals of Honour by the first president of the Republic of Croatia in 1995 (Commemorative Medal of the Homeland War and Order of the Croatian Trefoil).Ina has also written hundreds articles for newspapers in Australia and Croatia on the plight of Croatian people for freedom and self-determination, developing democracy in former communist countries. She holds two graduate and one post-graduate university degrees, specialising in behaviour, clinical and political psychology and management.

Blessed Aloysius Stepinac quote:

“When they take everything from you, you’ll be left with two hands; put them together in prayer and then you’ll be the strongest.” Blessed Aloysius Stepinac (1898 – 1960)

First President of Croatia Dr Franjo Tudjman quote:

“They could not, nor will they ever be able to kill our passion and our need to live in human dignity, in peace with ourselves and with the free nations of Europe. We have carved out that right at our first democratic elections. For this right and for our sacred land we are even ready to die” – Dr Franjo Tudjman (1922-1999) ( Addressing the Croatian nation at the moment of the start of Serbian aggression against Croatia, 16 October 1991)

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